US Military

Persistent suspicions that the United States stored the defoliant Agent Orange at its bases on Okinawa are back in the spotlight after the recent discovery of ageing chemical barrels buried on former US Air Force land.

A US doctor yesterday returned arm bones to their former Vietcong owner, more than 40 years after he amputated the arm during the Vietnam conflict. The bones were handed back to ex-soldier Nguyen Quang Hung at his house in the town of An Khe in Vietnam's highlands province of Gia Lai.

US President Barack Obama has succumbed to pressure to get his country directly involved in Syria's civil war. He has decided to arm the rebels, using as justification a belief that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's government has deployed chemical weapons against the fighters trying to overthrow the regime. The US is also considering imposing a no-fly zone, which, if approved, would be its first direct military intervention in the conflict. A worrying path has been embarked upon that offers no solution to a dispute that Syrians, not outsiders, should decide.

Just days after taking power, Pakistan's new government has lodged a protest with the US and summoned a top American envoy to vent its frustration following a US drone strike that intelligence officials say killed seven militants.

US President Barack Obama's new counter-terrorism doctrine has run into heavy crossfire. To some Republican opponents, his plan to redefine the global "war on terror" as a more targeted effort to eliminate threats to America is a retreat that underestimates the risk posed by Islamic extremists.

An outspoken Japanese politician apologised yesterday for saying US troops should patronise prostitutes as a way to reduce rapes, but defended another remark about Japan's use of sex slaves during the second world war.

Far removed from accounts of selfless derring-do, many US soldiers were viewed by the French as sex-obsessed thugs who had been promised an "erotic adventure" - a mission that was fulfilled, much to the chagrin of locals.

As North Korea maintains its belligerence, the world is caught in a dilemma. Ignoring it as just another round of empty threats would run the risk of North Korea test-firing missiles with longer range and greater precision. It would also strengthen the regime's rhetoric for testing more deadly nuclear devices. Having another round of six-party talks without a game-changing solution is unlikely to end this farcical merry-go-round.